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I am just wondering how important GPA is when I go to look for a job. I a graduate student of Electrical Engineering, my current GPA is not high, it is just 3.2

I a worried about that this GPA affect my job hunting, so if you have experiences of finding a job, please tell me some of this. Thank you so much

As a non-engineering major my understanding is that anything in the engineering field above a 3.0 is pretty good. For what it's worth, my guess is that if you do end up having trouble finding a job--then it probably isn't your GPA.

Interviewing skills and putting toget a good resume are going to be very important. From your posting, I can't tell if you are ESL or not. If you are ESL, then keep working on improving your language skills. If you are not ESL, but are a native English speaker - then make sure your resume doesn't have errors.

I realize that a message board does not require formal English, but you want to make sure that you don't look less than professional just because of some easily caught spelling or grammatical mistakes.

In interviews you want to be confident, but (generally) not arrogant. Talk about what you KNOW, don't speculate about what you don't know -- unless specifically asked to do that.

Good luck, a 3.2 is a very respectable GPA, and if your school is at all recognized in the Engineering field, you should definitely at least be able to get some interviews.

Once you land the interview - its all up to you (the person, not the GPA) to land the job!!

I am just wondering how important GPA is when I go to look for a job. I a graduate student of Electrical Engineering, my current GPA is not high, it is just 3.2

3.2 is not a bad GPA in the least. You need a 2.0 GPA in most cases to earn your degree.

You ever hear the joke, "What do you call the person who graduated last in their medical school class? - Doctor".

Here is the deal....someone has to be at the top; and someone needs to be at the bottom. Should you be an underachiever then? No. I am not saying that. I am saying that you should do your best; and then be darn proud of your accomplishments thus far.

The university that I earned my undergraduate degree sort of has the reputation as a 'jock party school'. However I have been to alumni events, and met quite a few former college athletes. These people many times did not turn to professional sports...and they had mediocre GPAs. But they are successful. Because they have confidence and pride.

I am not going to say that having a good GPA is not desirable or helpful. It can open up doors...and it can aid you if you plan to go to graduate school. But more doors are opened by resourcefulness, networking, and selling yourself to potential employers effectively. If anything, a GPA can help you land an internship....a fellowship....some sort of opportunity for you to do any of those things.

GPA and where you went to college only matters for your first job out of college. Some firms frankly prefer some colleges to others and want to be known as the creme de la creme of their industry so they are picky about GPA's. But, usually after you have landed the first job, all that becomes irrelevant. Instead what company you worked for previously is the determining factor. You don't have a bad GPA, but for some firms it could take you out of the running. Which isn't always a bad thing.

Higher GPAs can help with your first job out of college since a good deal of companies that hire students right after they graduate like to look at their GPA as a cutoff factor. The jobs I've applied for have had GPA requirements anywhere from 3.0-3.5. 3.5 being for the competitive job at NVIDIA (graphics card developers). It really depends. Your GPA isn't bad at all so I'm sure you'll get plenty of offers. Your interview matters more, in my opinion.

GPA really only matters in certain fields like business, law, and medical, but in reality only with top firms.

You also don't need to list your GPA on your resume and the general rule-of-thumb is if you are going to list your GPA, only list it if it is above 3.0. Listing awards, scholarships, or other types of recognition will do you more good in your job search than GPA.

Another thing to take into account is the school that you graduated from. A 3.0 from Harvard is still a heck of a lot better than a 4.0 from from Joe's Podunk State College.

A higher GPA will help you land your first job because if a company sees 100 resumes one way to weed them out is by GPA. After you get a job and have a good work history, your GPA means nothing.

That is right. The problem is how to get past the initial screening by HR and onto the interview. A good GPA helps get past that screening.

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